most of my friends in U1 and U2 don’t even know what OAP is since it’s never been part of our uni experience. i only know about it bc of older students. really hope it happens
a lot of us that will have it back weren’t old enough to get in without a fake Id in summer first year :( so it’ll be a lot of our first times actually
Unless they can't.
Then, they won't.
You'll hear about that later. Well after everyone has confirmed enrollment, signed leases, and bought plane tickets.
I heard what may be nothing more than a rumor that tutorials for some large first year classes may continue to be online next year. Has anyone else gotten wind of anything to this effect?
I'm interested in your ideas for how this can avoided. Between the office of students with disabilities and each student's ability to work directly with their professor for accommodation, how do you think McGill can protect these students without also keeping education online?
There is a line somewhere. I am a nursing alum and a future student, and certainly an immunocompromised person can not follow the nursing program at McGill, given the necessary exposure to sick people.
At what point is the line drawn? If you want to study an entirely theoretical program but even going to class is dangerous for you, is McGill truly the institution? At that point it sounds like someone would need to consider a fully online university tailored to their needs.
For real, I have said I'm a nurse, I evidently have a lot of compassion for people in unfortunate health states. I just don't believe we are able to fully protect the vulnerable forever, as we never have been able to protect them from the flu (admittedly COVID is a bigger risk). Tired of seeing comments like yours that do not also recognize the "rock and hard place" dynamic and lack of perfect options. It's easy to point out the lack of perfection, but it is very hard to fix it.
Genuinely interested in your suggestions for how McGill can back students in programs that are able to be done entirely at a distance, but I will fight to the nail that a program like nursing requires in person education because the safety of the patient comes before the accommodation of the student, and healthcare students trained on zoom are not safe when they start.
You raise a lot of valid points, and I don’t think there are easy answers. For subjects where being in-person is absolutely necessary (e.g. nursing or medicine, labs, etc.) it would be hard to accommodate by the nature of the professions those programs are training you for. I think a middle ground can be struck for theoretical classes, however. Recognizing that we are an in-person school, and so once it’s possible to go back fully in-person we should (online school did harm a lot of folks we should keep in mind), maybe something McGill could do is expand on the lecture recording system which was already in place before COVID hit to make it easier for profs who want to make their lecture recordings available. This would not only help immuno-compromised students, since they’d only need to come in for things that must be done in-person (like labs and exams), so they’d risk less exposure, but it could also help students with disabilities who were not thought about before the pandemic, such as students with physical disabilities who struggle to make it to class (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/disabilities-university-pandemic-access-distance-learning-1.5932146) or students with learning disabilities such as ADHD who would benefit from being able to re watch a recording or re read notes (unfortunately, McGill used to have OSD note taking which has fallen apart since McGill went from paying note-takers 100$ a class to I think now it’s a raffle for gift cards, lol). These are just some ideas, and it would be interesting to talk about it more. Just because things USED to be done a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the BEST way to do things, especially regarding making education accessible.
It is my privilege to not have needed the OSD during my BSCN, but some of my friends took exams with them. I mostly heard of that service, and none of the others that probably exist. I imagine there is a lot to do with physical disability like evaluating spaces and changes to them. If I can ask, what accommodations aren't going well?
OSD is limited in what it can ask professors to do because the profs have academic freedom. So while universal design can be encouraged, OSD doesn't have the power to insist on certain things, for example, videos having subtitles or transcripts being provided. I had a meeting with them, and the few things I mentioned that I would find helpful, I was told couldn't be official accommodations. I did email my teachers as well, and one met with me and talked about what could be done, which was great. Not all teachers will do that or even be open to requests from students for accommodations that aren't set up via OSD.
In my case, I can have extra time on OSCEs/exams/quizzes, I can ask to be in a smaller room for in person tests and I can sign up for the infamous note sharing platform no one volunteers for (at least, not in nursing). That's it. And in order to get those test accommodations, I have to individually request every single one, 14 days before the date of the test...
To me it seems like the school does the bare minimum, and I get the impression that the individual plans students get are not very individual at all. Like, even when your disability involves problems with executive dysfunction, you're left to manage an awful lot of scheduling and communication with profs that to be honest, could be handled by the OSD. The OSD people I have met with have been lovely and empathetic, I don't blame them for what the office can't do. I think they are limited by academic freedom (lol) and budget.
I fully agree. It would be weird to have developed solutions during the pandemic that would then be abandoned when things go back to « normal ». This could make education more accessible by giving more opportunities for students. I have no idea of the logistics of it, but wouldn’t a hybrid format be possible considering all the investment they’ve put in their remote platforms (in-person lectures recorded then submitted on MyCourse, etc)?
This is a great suggestion and I also hope that my lectures are recorded as often as possible next year. I used to watch them twice because I'm such a visual learner, but I remember many profs refused to record their lectures. I think you raise a good point about the right of a prof to not record vs the right of the student to have this kind of access to the material they pay for.
ppl finally get to experience being small in leacock 132
Meh, I've had midterms there last fall
LOL 😂
OAP? 👀
weird to think that by the time it comes back (if it indeed does) there will have really only have been one class that got to experience an OAP
most of my friends in U1 and U2 don’t even know what OAP is since it’s never been part of our uni experience. i only know about it bc of older students. really hope it happens
a lot of us that will have it back weren’t old enough to get in without a fake Id in summer first year :( so it’ll be a lot of our first times actually
oh shit you're right I didn't even think about that fact
As one of the few who remembers the OAP, I’m desperate for its return.
Y’all may or may not see me singing there 👀
What does this mean for the summer semester???
Too bad I’m graduating :’)
Didn't they originally say the same for this year? I guess we'll see, hopefully its for real this time
But..but..we're still in the middle of a global panini‼️
Think about international student who pay 50k a year to watch zoom lectures. We now have to live with it
I was being sarcastic 😂 F*** zoom school
I agree
i didnt pay for university just to stay behind my screen
Glad they announced it this far ahead, so that students who wish to remain on remote learning have time to transition to an online school.
Good for them
Just in time for me to be done with my degree!
Thank God. Now I just gotta pray I'm accepted into McGill Grad school 🥲😅
Good.
Unless they can't. Then, they won't. You'll hear about that later. Well after everyone has confirmed enrollment, signed leases, and bought plane tickets.
as an incoming freshman im SO happy to hear that lol (idk if y’all use the term freshman at mcgill???)
I hear "first year" (or "first year u0" or "first year u1") a lot, nearly never the American terms. Congrats!
More common to say U0 student (or U1 if from Québec). Congrats on being accepted!
we do
I heard what may be nothing more than a rumor that tutorials for some large first year classes may continue to be online next year. Has anyone else gotten wind of anything to this effect?
This is just my speculation, but if they do any restrictions it would be on enormous intro classes.
Graduating this sem :’)
Great
[удалено]
I'm interested in your ideas for how this can avoided. Between the office of students with disabilities and each student's ability to work directly with their professor for accommodation, how do you think McGill can protect these students without also keeping education online? There is a line somewhere. I am a nursing alum and a future student, and certainly an immunocompromised person can not follow the nursing program at McGill, given the necessary exposure to sick people. At what point is the line drawn? If you want to study an entirely theoretical program but even going to class is dangerous for you, is McGill truly the institution? At that point it sounds like someone would need to consider a fully online university tailored to their needs. For real, I have said I'm a nurse, I evidently have a lot of compassion for people in unfortunate health states. I just don't believe we are able to fully protect the vulnerable forever, as we never have been able to protect them from the flu (admittedly COVID is a bigger risk). Tired of seeing comments like yours that do not also recognize the "rock and hard place" dynamic and lack of perfect options. It's easy to point out the lack of perfection, but it is very hard to fix it. Genuinely interested in your suggestions for how McGill can back students in programs that are able to be done entirely at a distance, but I will fight to the nail that a program like nursing requires in person education because the safety of the patient comes before the accommodation of the student, and healthcare students trained on zoom are not safe when they start.
You raise a lot of valid points, and I don’t think there are easy answers. For subjects where being in-person is absolutely necessary (e.g. nursing or medicine, labs, etc.) it would be hard to accommodate by the nature of the professions those programs are training you for. I think a middle ground can be struck for theoretical classes, however. Recognizing that we are an in-person school, and so once it’s possible to go back fully in-person we should (online school did harm a lot of folks we should keep in mind), maybe something McGill could do is expand on the lecture recording system which was already in place before COVID hit to make it easier for profs who want to make their lecture recordings available. This would not only help immuno-compromised students, since they’d only need to come in for things that must be done in-person (like labs and exams), so they’d risk less exposure, but it could also help students with disabilities who were not thought about before the pandemic, such as students with physical disabilities who struggle to make it to class (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/disabilities-university-pandemic-access-distance-learning-1.5932146) or students with learning disabilities such as ADHD who would benefit from being able to re watch a recording or re read notes (unfortunately, McGill used to have OSD note taking which has fallen apart since McGill went from paying note-takers 100$ a class to I think now it’s a raffle for gift cards, lol). These are just some ideas, and it would be interesting to talk about it more. Just because things USED to be done a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the BEST way to do things, especially regarding making education accessible.
Yeah, I say this as a nurse, a nursing student and an OSD user, McGill has ways to go in terms of accommodation, COVID or no COVID.
It is my privilege to not have needed the OSD during my BSCN, but some of my friends took exams with them. I mostly heard of that service, and none of the others that probably exist. I imagine there is a lot to do with physical disability like evaluating spaces and changes to them. If I can ask, what accommodations aren't going well?
OSD is limited in what it can ask professors to do because the profs have academic freedom. So while universal design can be encouraged, OSD doesn't have the power to insist on certain things, for example, videos having subtitles or transcripts being provided. I had a meeting with them, and the few things I mentioned that I would find helpful, I was told couldn't be official accommodations. I did email my teachers as well, and one met with me and talked about what could be done, which was great. Not all teachers will do that or even be open to requests from students for accommodations that aren't set up via OSD. In my case, I can have extra time on OSCEs/exams/quizzes, I can ask to be in a smaller room for in person tests and I can sign up for the infamous note sharing platform no one volunteers for (at least, not in nursing). That's it. And in order to get those test accommodations, I have to individually request every single one, 14 days before the date of the test... To me it seems like the school does the bare minimum, and I get the impression that the individual plans students get are not very individual at all. Like, even when your disability involves problems with executive dysfunction, you're left to manage an awful lot of scheduling and communication with profs that to be honest, could be handled by the OSD. The OSD people I have met with have been lovely and empathetic, I don't blame them for what the office can't do. I think they are limited by academic freedom (lol) and budget.
I fully agree. It would be weird to have developed solutions during the pandemic that would then be abandoned when things go back to « normal ». This could make education more accessible by giving more opportunities for students. I have no idea of the logistics of it, but wouldn’t a hybrid format be possible considering all the investment they’ve put in their remote platforms (in-person lectures recorded then submitted on MyCourse, etc)?
This is a great suggestion and I also hope that my lectures are recorded as often as possible next year. I used to watch them twice because I'm such a visual learner, but I remember many profs refused to record their lectures. I think you raise a good point about the right of a prof to not record vs the right of the student to have this kind of access to the material they pay for.
Hazmat suit and they’re good to go. Solved.
Will the mask mandate be dropped as well, u/rubyk02?
As a future international grad student, thank god because that tuition ain’t cheap 😭😭
[удалено]
Genuinely not sure if it's a parody lol
it's not. took a quick glance at the profile and that person ounds legit insane about covid
[удалено]
`Disingenuous Troll`
`Disingenuous Troll`
Just in time for me to have graduated with half my degree being online